Crafting Your Own Legendary Weapon

Legendary weapons in Guild Wars 2 have, up to now, only been available by purchasing from the trading post, through the Mystic Forge, or via drops. However, Heart of Thorns will change all that and allow players to embark on a journey to craft their own Legendary Weapons.

A new blog post on the official site by Linsey Murdock, the discussion begins with a section called "Crafting Your Precursor", a new system that will allow players to unlock a Mastery track that will unlock precursor crafting. This is one of the new progressions coming in the expansion and one that will allow players of level 80 to apply experience earned to specific training paths.

Legendary crafting will be prepared by completing three preliminary tiers, the first of which sends players to special vendors to purchase original release precursors in one of two themes required to create a Legendary weapon. Completing specific tasks required by the Mastery vendors will unlock a recipe that nets the ability to craft the first piece of the precursor -- "a nontradable exotic weapon with a distressed version of the existing precursor skin".

The second of the three tiers requires research, meeting with experts and perfecting crafting. Completion of this tier earns another recipe to refine the weapon.

Finally, players will return to the "theme" of the weapon that will require completion of several tasks and activities that results in a recipe to put the final polish on the weapon. Unlocking this final tier once adds the skin to a player's wardrobe along with the earlier iteration skins.

According to Murdock, finishing the precursor then opens up a "long process of gathering materials to craft gifts that will eventually be given to Zommoros, the djinn at the heart of the Mystic Forge, who returns the favor with a legendary weapon.

All maps but the earliest new player maps will also yield material bonuses. "By completing events, jumping puzzles, and mini-dungeons in a map, you'll be periodically awarded with one of its associated bonuses in addition to the normal rewards. For most maps, the bonus reward will be crafting materials." Murdock writes.

Lastly, the first hints are given at a wide range of new legendary weapons for players to craft. "[W]e've been working hard on the new legendary weapons, the first handful of which will be introduced in Hear of Thorns, with more to come in subsequent updates."